One of the most memorable images from the swearing in of the 19th Knesset about two years ago, in February 2013, was the friendly whispering and exchange of hugs and pats on the back between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yair Lapid, chairman of Yesh Atid, Israel's second-largest party.

Lapid’s remarkable achievement, and the alliance he then formed with the chairman of HaBayit HaYehudi party, Naftali Bennett, brought a new spirit to the Knesset chamber and lit up the public's imagination. Bennett, the young national-religious man, who revived a sinking party, an officer in an elite unit and a high-tech millionaire, joined the rich, popular television star, a secular Tel-Avivian, and together they forced the composition of the coalition on Netanyahu. At first Lapid conditioned his joining the government on Bennett’s inclusion, and together they succeeded in leaving the ultra-Orthodox out of the coalition, and in winning key roles: Lapid got the Finance Ministry and Bennett the Ministry of the Economy and Trade.

The young new “power couple” of Israeli politics brought with them the winds of change of the 2011 social protest and much hope for a better future.

On the afternoon of March 31 — two years after the swearing in of the 19th Knesset — the ceremony swearing in the 20th Knesset was far less celebratory for Lapid and Bennett, and was accompanied by a sour feeling. The two of them returned to the plenum weakened after the election. Lapid lost eight seats, going from 19 to 11, and Bennett lost four of 12, for only eight. This time, Netanyahu shared hugs with the chairman of ultra-Orthodox Shas party Head Aryeh Deri, his almost certain partner in his fourth government.